Govt not to block Facebook for any hour: Tarana

State minister for post and telecommunications Tarana Halim on Tuesday said that no bar would be imposed on social networking site Facebook. She came up with the statement at a press conference at the secretariat, a day after a government proposal to block Facebook for six hours after midnight was turned down by the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission.The junior minister, however, claimed that the government did not make any decision for blocking Facebook and so the media reports and comments on social media on the issue were completely misleading and unexpected.‘Today’s press conference has been arranged to remove the confusion over the issue and I want to say clearly that there will be no blocking of Facebook for any hour. No such decision [blocking of Facebook] has been taken by the government,’ Tarana said.She said that in the conference of deputy commissioners held last year the DCs expressed their concern over the use of the social media by the youths and students after midnight and discussed whether the Facebook could be blocked after midnight. Following the proposal, the cabinet division sent a letter to the posts and telecommunication ministry asking its opinion on the blocking Facebook for six hours after midnight, Tarana said.‘We sent a letter to the BTRC for its opinion on the issue and the commission also agreed with our ministry that it would not be expedient to impose bar on Facebook,’ the state minister said.She said that the telecommunication department on Tuesday informed cabinet division that ban was not imposed on Facebook for any hour.‘The government would not take such decision, which contradicts the concept of digital Bangladesh,’ Tarana said.The state minister said that the ministry would launch awareness campaign for the guardians instead of blocking Facebook so that they could protect their children.She suggested that guardians use different parental controlling tools and privacy and security features to contain abuse of facebook. Earlier, the BTRC on Monday turned down a government proposal to block social networking site Facebook for six hours after midnight.The cabinet division put forth the proposal saying that it would contain excessive use of the social media by students and young people.The BTRC said in its reply that it was technically impossible to block Facebook for youths and students as there was no effective way to identify the age of Facebook users.